Chennai: In order to cash on the emerging opportunity the city based lease deed abstraction company NTrust Infotech Private Limited is getting into Europe.

For the $15-million revenue company the European foray would derisk its business currently concentrated in US.

Says Srikanth Ramachandran, CEO and president, ''Two years ago we started building our competencies to target the European market.''

According to him many European countries like Germany have started permitting real estate investment trusts (REIT) to own and manage properties thereby offering opportunity for companies like NTrust Infotech.

''We have built expertise in 14 European languages. Currently we have eight customers in Europe. In couple of year's time the region would contribute around Euro 12 million to our topline,'' Ramachandran adds.

For a property management company, lease administration cost comes next to the human cost.

The abstraction process is bit complex as the contracts runs into several pages – 120 to 700 pages- and the terms differing from property to property.

Compared to the US lease deeds, the lease abstraction work in Europe is complex.
''In Europe there are different calendars and the payment terms also vary some are monthly and some are weekly. Similarly the rent escalation clause and tax laws differ between countries,'' he remarks.

Ramachandran says, Europe offers better returns as the companies look at the service provider's capability rather than the cost factor.

In order to meet the need for increased hands NTrust Infotech has plans to double its headcount to 600 in a year's time.

''We look out for people who are good in English and have analytical mind,'' says R.Janakiraman, COO.

While Indians consider lease abstraction work with pride, in the US such a work is considered as low paying job.

''The abstraction task requires people with knowledge and analytical ability. In the US there are more paying jobs than the $20 per hour lease abstraction work,'' Ramachandran reasoned.

According to him it would cost around $45,000 per annum in the US whereas the same work could be accomplished in India at $12,000-15,000 in India.

In this business going up in the value chain means taking care of receipts and payments, managing the asset insurance, apportioning common area expenses amongst different tenants and compliance management.

NTrust Infotech is already present in common area management reconciliation work in the US for a client.

''A fixed sum is collected from tenants upfront towards maintaining the common facilities in a property. At the end of the year the expenses are apportioned amongst various tenants based on their usage and tenancy agreements,'' says Janakiraman.